The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of certification on women-owned construction companies in the United States. The primary objectives were to determine if certification has impacted accessibility to public (government) and private construction work as well as the financial performance of women-owned construction firms. The secondary research objectives were to determine what challenges these firms have encountered during the certification process and their perception of it.

<p>Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur förekomsten av resultatmanipulering ser ut i företag med olika ägarstrukturer noterade på de svenska börslistorna under åren 2005-2008. Vi har valt att definiera tre grupper av företag: familjeägda företag, företag ägda av investmentbolag och övriga företag. För att identifiera skillnader i resultatmanipulering väljer vi att jämföra medelvärden på godtyckliga periodiseringar hos de olika företagsgrupperna genom ett oberoende t-test, sedan utförs regressioner för att försöka förklara potentiella skillnader. Studiens resultat visar i likhet med tidigare forskning att förekomsten av resultatmanipulering är lägre i familjeföretag i jämförelse med övriga företag. Vårt resultat tyder även på att det inte existerar någon signifikant skillnad mellan företag ägda av investmentbolag och övriga företag vad gäller förekomsten av resultatmanipulering.</p>

<p>This study investigates the challenges facing the management of public enterprises in the Democratic of Congo. The study is based on the hypothesis that poor performance by state-owned enterprises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been influenced by inadequate management which has led to the dissatisfaction of citizens. Due to this problem increasing attention is being paid by the DRC Government to encouraging private sector involvement in services such as water and electricity. This study investigates the arguments for and against privatization, especially in the water and electricity sectors. In pursuing this debate the study explores the following main research question: To what extent will the DRC Reform Law aimed at transforming the commercialisation of public enterprises enhance the effectiveness of basic services such as water and electricity services in the DRC? A case study of the city of Bukavu in the eastern DRC is used to explore this question.</p>

Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur förekomsten av resultatmanipulering ser ut i företag med olika ägarstrukturer noterade på de svenska börslistorna under åren 2005-2008. Vi har valt att definiera tre grupper av företag: familjeägda företag, företag ägda av investmentbolag och övriga företag. För att identifiera skillnader i resultatmanipulering väljer vi att jämföra medelvärden på godtyckliga periodiseringar hos de olika företagsgrupperna genom ett oberoende t-test, sedan utförs regressioner för att försöka förklara potentiella skillnader. Studiens resultat visar i likhet med tidigare forskning att förekomsten av resultatmanipulering är lägre i familjeföretag i jämförelse med övriga företag. Vårt resultat tyder även på att det inte existerar någon signifikant skillnad mellan företag ägda av investmentbolag och övriga företag vad gäller förekomsten av resultatmanipulering.

The fast-growing economy in China attracts the world’s interests, which includes the Chinese stock markets. The market efficiency of Chinese stock markets is widely discussed by researchers in different approaches. The involvement of government in stock markets is a unique case in the financial world.   By this paper, we are answering the question that is the degree of market efficiency of stat-owned companies different from that of private companies in Chinese stock markets. This will bring us knowledge about Chinese stock markets as well as the impact from ownership, market value and management styles on market efficiency.   To clarify the influence from government involvement in stock markets, we select 938 stocks distinguished by ownership structure. This quantitative study is preceded on daily data from 2007 to 2011. We use auto correlation, Chi-square test, and linear regression together with Spearman’s correlation to test our hypothesis. The degree of market efficiency of each ownership group is examined and compared to each other. Market efficiency related to ownership and market capitalization are inspected if they are anomaly factors in Chinese markets.   The empirical results indicate that the degree of market efficiency of state-owned companies is significantly different from the degree of market efficiency of private-owned companies in China. The market capitalization is one of the existing anomaly factors in Chinese stock markets, as well as it is correlated with degree of market efficiency to some extent. For state-owned enterprises, active management on stock market does not provide a better market efficiency compared to passively managed companies.

Since ¡§Doi Moi¡¨ (renovation) begun in 1986, Vietnam has engaged in economic reform on an on-going basis in order to create a fruitful investment environment and attract foreign investors to engage in its market. As the total investment amount is over 19 billion US dollars, the role of Taiwanese investors played is more important than before. Notwithstanding that the investment environment in Vietnam has improved more significantly than ever, the enterprises¡¦ operation still has to bear considerable risk. Due to Vietnam¡¦s special single-party state constitution, for foreign investors, it is expected that the political risk is existed with the high feasibility of government change policies and ignore investors¡¦ benefits. According to this, the purpose of this research is to realize how the host¡¦s political risk influences Taiwanese MNEs¡¦ entry mode choice. As previous studies generally focused on the discussion of the relationship between political risk and entry mode choice, however, the moderating effects of firms¡¦ own resource and advantages are less mentioned. Therefore, this thesis tries to provide a theoretical framework based on resource-based view, eclectic theory and other related theories that includes profitability, financial structure, and R&D capability as the contingency factors to examine how these factors moderate the relationship between political risk and entry mode choice. The findings of this study reveal that when the political risk in Vietnam getting higher, Taiwanese MNEs are more likely to engage in Vietnam through JVs. Besides, the positive moderating effect of profitability is also existed. It shows when a firm with higher profitability, it will more tend to choose JVs as the political risk in Vietnam rising.

This research mainly investigates the risks of the four large nation-owned banks of Mainland China. Starting from the analysis on banking theories, laws of financial organization management and the reform and opening of financial market, the research carries out case studies according to the financial reports of the four large nation-owned banks from 1985 to 2001, and finally concludes by outlining the operation risks of the four great nation-owned banks.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore senior managers' perceptions of strategic management, with the specific context being the National Oil Corporation in Libya. As such it represents a ground-breaking study at PhD level. An extensive literature identified key themes and models of strategy formulation and strategic management, in particular Karami's model of strategic management (Karami, 2007) together with key factors influencing the processes involved. This led to a study of the Libyan NOC based on a two-stage research design, the first a survey involving two hundred and fifty two senior managers of whom seventy returned completed questionnaires and the second conducting twelve semi-structured follow up interviews to deepen the findings from the questionnaire with qualitative data. The findings of this thesis suggest that the Libyan NOC may have relied too heavily in the past on strategy formulation and strategic management as the preserve of a very few individuals at the very top of the organisation, as the role of the great majority of senior managers was limited to monitoring and high level supervision. It was found that although political directives set the strategy for the whole organisation, there was a gap in knowledge and understanding between the senior business managers and the political appointments to the Board. Recommendations for improving practice therefore concerned steps in the strategic management process and senior managers' effectiveness especially in the Board as a team. Recommendations for reflecting the Libyan NOC as an example of a state-owned enterprise in Karami's model were to include Board effectiveness as the first step, to add medium-term objectives and to include social responsibility in environmental scanning under external factors.

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / In the last decade, Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), and Women-owned SMMEs in particular, have significantly increased in many parts of the world. The growing contribution of SMMEs towards the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), job creation, poverty reduction, social and economic development, can no longer be ignored. In recognition of the significance of SMMEs, many countries in the world have created special mechanisms to enhance and facilitate the creation and growth of SMMEs. Lately, the main support services offered to small enterprises include both business development services and financial services by using the cutting edge of Information Communication Technologies (ICT). However, a review of various writings has revealed that despite efforts by numerous governments to establish a support structure for SMMEs, their efforts have not been very rewarding. SMMEs still complain about the lack of access to government support and services. Issues of accessibility were worsened as female business owners face different challenges than their male counterparts. A review of those challenges was conducted in the context of Rwanda. By using a multiple case study design and an interview method for the collection of data, the study identified the support and services provided by the government and the challenges that women-owned SMMEs encountered in their attempts to access them.

<p>This study investigates the challenges facing the management of public enterprises in the Democratic of Congo. The study is based on the hypothesis that poor performance by state-owned enterprises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been influenced by inadequate management which has led to the dissatisfaction of citizens. Due to this problem increasing attention is being paid by the DRC Government to encouraging private sector involvement in services such as water and electricity. This study investigates the arguments for and against privatization, especially in the water and electricity sectors. In pursuing this debate the study explores the following main research question: To what extent will the DRC Reform Law aimed at transforming the commercialisation of public enterprises enhance the effectiveness of basic services such as water and electricity services in the DRC? A case study of the city of Bukavu in the eastern DRC is used to explore this question.</p>